Austin 3 Litre

THE LAST BIG LUXURY AUSTIN

Austin 3 Litre Prototypes

The Austin
3 Litre was no exception when it came to badge engineering within
BMC in the '60s and '70s, despite several variations on the various
in house products, the Austin 3 Litre was the exception when it came to
actually building different models, some prototypes were
investigated and a V8 powered Wolseley version and a pre-production
car were actually built
and used for development. Despite this no factory variations ever came to fruition. Internal
politics and slow sales of the 3 Litre stopped any foray into this area.

Wolseley V8

The Wolseley pictured here was fitted with a Rover 3.5 litre V8
engine, the car was a very early model as can be seen by the vented
wheels, door pockets and lack of front quarter lights and sill
covers. The marketing men at Rover were not happy with the prospect
of this car going on sale, being similar weight, an identical power
unit and far superior suspension and handling, it would surely have
been a threat to the soon to appear Rover P5B, internal politics at
BL saw the cars development halted. Reports from the time were very
favourable about the car, it was in use for some time for
development and was well liked by all who were involved in it.

Austin 3 Litre VDP

In
House
coachbuilder Vanden-Plas were given the task of producing a VDP
version of the Austin 3 Litre. A mock up version was built as a
styling excersise with images being sent to dealers to gauge demand,
with little interest being shown a running car was never built. Look
carefully underneath this car and you can see the blocks supporting
it.